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Although I'm only going to lay down one of these in 1948, I don't entirely view it as an experimental ship. I might change my mind and lay down a second one in 1948 or 1949.

The theory is to build, on a hull roughly intermediate between a cruiser and a destroyer, a vessel designed to use the many modern weapons and sensors available to hunt modern submarines. In an ideal situation, the ship would operate with a pair of escortier rapides, serving as a command ship.

Notes:
The Maxime Laubeuf was an experimental submarine built in 1948 as part of Project Borée, a joint project by the French Marine Nationale and the Russian Federation Navy to develop an air-independent submarine propulsion system. The Maxime Laubeuf, often better-known by the nickname "Max Rapide" (Max Quick) was a highly modified variant of the earlier hydrogen peroxide-powered Gymnote. Although built as a fully-capable military submarine, the "Max" was intended to be a half-scale testbed for a 1950 production design, powered by a nuclear reactor.

The Marine Nationale had originally wanted to try the Russian REDO closed-cycle stirling diesel engine (tested on the Russian M-401 experimental submarine) rather than resorting back to H2O2; but a workable design could not be assembled according to the project timetable. As a result, the "Max" had a modified version of the Gymnote's H2O2 engines, which benefitted from many of the lessons learned from the fire-prone Gymnote. In spite of the improvements, fires were semi-regular occurances, leading to the final abandonment of the H2O2 design program.

The Maxime Laubeuf's greatest contributions came with regard to her Lyon shape hullform, which adapted lessons learned from aerodynamics. DCNS had also learned many lessons during construction of the Emeraude-class regarding improved underwater streamlining and performance, as well as the design of control surfaces. The hullform had previously been used in a crude form on the Gymnote, although the earlier submarine had not benefitted from the same degree of streamlining, or the elimination of external fittings and fixtures. It was this experience which proved most valuable for Project Borée, eventually bearing fruit with the design of the first French nuclear submarines, Revolutionnaire.

In 1953, the French Navy retired the submarine following a second major fire. The boat, which was returning from a training cruise to Algiers, caught fire while waiting for a tug. The boat took on water through the open aft hatch and sank in sixteen meters of water, less than a hundred meters from her home pier. Fifteen men abandoned ship prior to her sinking, while the remaining fourteen men, gathered in the forward compartment, were rescued less than an hour later by diving bell. Divers closed the aft hatch and pumped high-pressure air into the boat to raise it. Due to the damage to the H2O2 engine system and a disinterest in continuing experiments with hydrogen peroxide, the "Max" was not deemed economical to repair.

Accident History:
- June 12, 1948: minor fire started by the H2O2 system during sea trials. No casualties or damage.
- June 19, 1948: minor fire started by the H2O2 system during sea trials. No significant damage; one man treated for inhalation of fumes.
- July 30, 1948: minor fire started by the H2O2 system while at sea. No casualties or damage; cruise continued without interruption.
- November 5, 1948: minor fire started by the H2O2 system while in port. No casualties or damage.
- March 13, 1949: major fire started by the H2O2 system. Three dead, fourteen injured. Boat briefly abandoned at sea before being towed to Mers-el-Kebir then returned to France for repairs.
- April 4, 1949: while finishing repairs following fire, a crane knocks over material onto the submarine, damaging the snort, periscope and radar mast, and causing an impact which starts a minor electrical fire in the captain's cabin. No casualties; minor damage.
- July 13, 1949: entangled in a lost fishing trawl. Screw jammed, boat towed back to port.
- May 19, 1950: minor fire started by the H2O2 system while at sea. No casualties or damage; cruise terminated.
- November 16, 1950: minor fire started by the H2O2 system. No significant damage; three men treated for inhalation of fumes.
- December 18, 1950: while leaving port, submarine rammed by civilian motorboat (security violation). Motorboat sunk and two civilians arrested. No damage to the submarine.
- March 9, 1951: minor fire started by the H2O2 system. No significant damage; one man treated for inhalation of fumes.
- August 18, 1952: minor fire started by the H2O2 system while at sea. No casualties or damage; cruise continued without interruption.
- April 11, 1953: major fire started by the H2O2 system while in port of Toulon. Eighteen men treated for inhalation of fumes. Boat sinks in port in sixteen meters of water.

The last minesweepers built for the French Navy were the destroyer-like "aviso-drageurs" of the Arabe-class. These minesweepers are a much more conservative design, with wood hulls, limited armament, and simplicity written all over them.

Notes:
The Cybèle class was originally designed by DCNS in 1947 and 1948 as part of a proposal for a small, compact coastal submarine for service on the North, Baltic or Black Seas, with Latvia, Belgium, Poland, or Denmark identified as potential customers. DCNS adapted many of the lessons they had learned from earlier submarine projects to produce their design proposal.

I am not entirely convinced on the Poursuivante-class. It sounds like the US Norfolk class, which ended up being too big and expensive for A/S work. The helicopter facilities, however, could change that. The Canadians have been playing around with hangars on some of their ships that building one on the Poursuivante would not be impossible. Still, the apparent A/S outfit seems small in comparison to the ship’s displacement.

You’ve sort of given the game away on the Maxime Laubeuf with its history. Not all experiments are shining successes, and you are simming such. I am certain that the DCNS will learn much from the program.

The Aconit-class and the Canard-class seem somewhat confusing and duplicative. Size-wise, the Canard makes sense for an inshore minehunter for keeping the ports open. The Aconit-class however strikes me as too small for oceanic employment, even in the Mediterranean. With only 70 tons of m/s gear the Aconit would be rather hard pressed to deal with the variety of mines that would be available by the late 1940s. I would think something larger, like the historical Tripartite class, might make better sense, and perhaps have an equal success at export.

The Aigrette-class is a no-brainer. Looks good.

The Criquet-class works for me too. Smaller auxiliaries and harbor craft are too overlooked in Wesworld.

The Cybèle class boats are interesting; short-legged perhaps but I like their sprint capabilities. The design ought to be good for coast defense in restricted waters against surface targets.

I am not entirely convinced on the Poursuivante-class. It sounds like the US Norfolk class, which ended up being too big and expensive for A/S work. The helicopter facilities, however, could change that. The Canadians have been playing around with hangars on some of their ships that building one on the Poursuivante would not be impossible. Still, the apparent A/S outfit seems small in comparison to the ship’s displacement.

I'm going back and forth about whether or not I want to put a helicopter hanger on it. France has some fairly decent helicopters, but I'm a bit reluctant to apply hindsight to the design. Still, this ship is large enough to reasonably operate 1-2 helicopters, and so I might be willing to go for it.

The Aconit-class and the Canard-class seem somewhat confusing and duplicative. Size-wise, the Canard makes sense for an inshore minehunter for keeping the ports open. The Aconit-class however strikes me as too small for oceanic employment, even in the Mediterranean. With only 70 tons of m/s gear the Aconit would be rather hard pressed to deal with the variety of mines that would be available by the late 1940s. I would think something larger, like the historical Tripartite class, might make better sense, and perhaps have an equal success at export.

I'd actually based the Aconit design on the British Ton class, which proved pretty long-lived - and seaworthy enough to serve as oceanic patrol ships for the Irish Naval Service.

I went back and looked at the drageurs that the French Navy actually built and acquired during the 1950s (1940s were a bit of a wash). They did pick up seventeen British-built Ham-class minesweepers (roughly analogous to the Canard-class, albeit smaller and flush-decked), but also fifteen "dragueur de mines océaniques", which appear to be called the Narvik-class, which served as the immediate predecessors of the Tripartite-class minehunters. I went ahead and made a quick sim of that design, since it doesn't require any of the 1960s/70s technology of the Tripartites. (Tripartite was a minehunter in any case.) Only real difference between this and Narvik is that I've used the 57mm gun rather than the 40mm used on Narvik.

Looking at the revised Aconit-class sim, it appears to be a much more weatherly design - I suspect that the armament could be beefed up if desired without too much sacrifice. Given France's colonial interests in distant waters I think it and a mix of Canards would be very effective into the early 1950s. The new design should be capable of carrying the gear necessary to deal with magnetic, pressure, and contact mines.

I agree with Bruce that Poursuivante looks wasteful, the ASW armament isn't stunning but I guess as an escort flagship packed with sonars and perhaps some enhanced aerial search radars and dedicated air and sub CICs then it might make more sense. A light chopper on the tail shouldn't be too hard when something reliable comes along. You need the right chopper and systems, right now you can't lug a sonar and torpedo and having one or the other is a pain without reliable radio links and control from ship and that's not as easy as it sounds. A hangar would seem a bit ahead of the OTL curve but providing a pad would be logical I guess if that's the way your heading.
Are the torpedo tubes on this design centreline or beam banks?

Le Exploder looks ok to me, I've never been tempted to play around with such novel powerplants so far.
The Cybèle class does look good, will Belgium ever buy any or do something else crazy? Who knows? I have the tonnage but is there the willpower to take on something new like this, especially since the gyroplane carrier is now a green light to go.

You also reminded me, as did watching a programme about Scapa Flow the other night, that I've never built any netlayers for the RN, partly because I thought they were too small and could easily convert some merchants/ fishing boats. I must rectify that.

I agree with Bruce that Poursuivante looks wasteful, the ASW armament isn't stunning but I guess as an escort flagship packed with sonars and perhaps some enhanced aerial search radars and dedicated air and sub CICs then it might make more sense. A light chopper on the tail shouldn't be too hard when something reliable comes along. You need the right chopper and systems, right now you can't lug a sonar and torpedo and having one or the other is a pain without reliable radio links and control from ship and that's not as easy as it sounds. A hangar would seem a bit ahead of the OTL curve but providing a pad would be logical I guess if that's the way your heading.
Are the torpedo tubes on this design centreline or beam banks?

One triple launcher on each beam. As with the preceding escortiers d'escadre (Forbin-class destroyers), they're set up to fire acoustic antisubmarine torpedoes rather than the standard oxygen-propelled 42G antiship torpedoes.

I'll think over the design a bit more. I'm not going to cancel the ship, but I might give some thought to whether or not I can improve the utility of the ship. I tended to design it more like Bruce does his ships - going light on armament in favor of high seakeeping - so in some ways the ship's design is a bit of an aberration for my design preferences.

There is (I assume) the LRASM Modele 1947 (though no idea what it would be like) and there are the acoustic antisubmarine torpedoes... what else? I would add depth charges to it as well just in case the ships happens to end up close or right above the enemy submarine.

Looking at Japan's Ashida class (which is more cruiser-sized than something intermediate between a cruiser and a destroyer like the Poursuivante is), besides the 4x3 torpedo tubes, it has two Ika ASW mortars, 4 DC projectors, 16 DC throwers an a pair of DC chutes in the stern (as there is no space for DC rails on the quarterdeck, I imagine it being handled right below the quarterdeck).

I had been thinking about putting a helicopter on the Ashida class during the design process, but deemed the design to be too small to be able to handle one unless it is something small like a Fl 282 and even if it was big enough, the amount of stuff on the ship would probably prevent one from operating from it. The Kikuchi class preceding the Ashida has miscellaneous tonnage for a seaplane, crane and catapult and, even though no one ever mentioned anything about it, I have my doubts that those things would fit on the ship with the other stuff (unless I put them on the forecastle).

Update:
- I am still fiddling with the design of the Poursuivante. I've made the design smaller, and I've been experimenting with making a small air-defense cruiser out of it instead.
- Discovered an error in the Cybèle submarine design; I transposed the horsepower of the diesel and electric motors. I fixed it in the post above.

I've also put together a parallel design to the Cybèle - slightly larger, with fewer torpedo tubes, but more reloads and just generally a bit extra capacity. This boat is designed more with Mediterranean operations in mind, whereas the Cybèle is for even more constricted waters. Might also be a good first submarine for Indochina.

I'd be interesting in seeing your AA cruiser version of Poursuivante as I've been mulling over some new AA cruisers too, but the final result is quite large though I have worked in a degree of dual-purpose too.
I've tinkered with a similar concept to Poursuivante by making my cruiser-destroyer more of an ASW platform but the results didn't seem worth it. It just seems wasteful to have too much hull, although I've found that minimum length for a decent ASW design is actually quite large compared to earlier sloops and other escorts.

I'd be interesting in seeing your AA cruiser version of Poursuivante as I've been mulling over some new AA cruisers too, but the final result is quite large though I have worked in a degree of dual-purpose too.

Well, here's one of the designs I've currently got in hand. As with the preceding design, we've got a highly enlarged destroyer hull, lacking an armoured belt or deck.